A day after it was announced musician Ryuichi Sakamoto had lost his battle with cancer on March 28, tributes from his contemporaries flooded the social media landscape.
Speaking to The Japan Times directly, radio personality Peter Barakan recalled stories of working with the prolific composer.
“I started working with them in early 1981, which was slightly before digital synthesizers came along,” said Barakan in reference to Sakamoto’s influential electro-pop group Yellow Magic Orchestra. “Sakamoto was an absolute genius at creating sounds with the (analog synthesizer) Prophet-5 that nobody else could. They sounded so... unique, but really appealing.”